The Admiral's DaughterInLaw
by Diane Klepper
Summary: B'Elanna has a conversation with her father in law. Part five of "The Admiral's Family" series.


The Admiral's Daughter In Law  
  
  
By Diane Klepper  
  
  
  
(Author's note: This is the fifth part of the Admiral's Family series. I have one more part   
planned but if you have any ideas to extend this series please e-mail me at   
DIANEKLEPPER@aol.com All suggestions will be taken seriously. )   
  
  
  
B'Elanna Torres sat in the kitchen of her in-laws kitchen and drank her coffee.   
She had just part Miral down for her nap and was reading a padd containing apartment   
listings. Owen and Maggie Paris had done everything to make her feel welcome but she   
felt it was time that her and Tom found a place of their own. She wanted a place close by   
because she wanted Miral to get to know her grandparents, her aunts and her cousins. She   
also wanted a place near Starfleet Academy because both she Tom were going to be   
teaching courses there next semester and she liked the idea of being able to come home   
for lunch and spending some time with Miral.  
  
  
She looked around the kitchen and realized that since Voyager has been back on   
Earth this was the first time she had been alone in the house with Miral She appreciated   
all the help Maggie gave her with Miral but seeing Tom's mother with her daughter made   
her a little sad. It reminded her that her mother never lived to see her granddaughter. She   
hoped that somehow her mother could watch her from the Sto-Vo-Kor, the Klingon   
afterlife and be happy that B'Elanna had finally found honor with the man she loved and   
her precious little girl.  
  
  
Tom was at Starfleet Academy getting some hours in the brand new simulators   
they had recently installed. He often complained the new simulators weren't as smooth as   
Voyager but Tom needed the extra flying hours to qualify as a flight instructor. Tom's   
piloting license was revoked when he was sent to the New Zealand Penal Colony so he   
had to re-qualify to be reinstated as a Starfleet pilot. B'Elanna though it was funny that   
Captain Janeway technically had an unlicensed pilot flying Voyager but everyone on the   
ship knew that Tom was the best pilot on the ship so Janeway overlooked that little detail.  
  
  
B'Elanna walked over to the replicator and was about to order another cup of   
coffee when the kitchen door opened and in walked Owen Paris. B'Elanna smiled at her   
father in law and said, "Hello Admiral…I thought you were at the office."  
  
  
"I was but my afternoon meeting was canceled so I decided to work at home   
today and didn't I ask you to call me Owen."  
  
  
B'Elanna smiled at her father in law. "That is going to take some getting use to."  
  
  
Owen smirked at her. "I know. You have had a lot of changes in your life recently   
with Miral and getting home…After being on Voyager for seven years it must be strange   
for you and Tom to be back on Earth.'  
  
  
"It is…but you and Tom's mother have made us feel so welcomed."  
  
  
Owen smiled, "You are . .all three of you." Owen glanced at the padd she had left   
open on the table and asked. "I see you are apartment hunting."  
  
  
B'Elanna looked at the Admiral. "Yes…I think it is time we found our own   
place…With Miral up ever four hours crying I'm sure you and Maggie would love to get   
a good nights sleep."  
  
  
"Remember B'Elanna I have three of my own…I'm well acquainted with over   
night feedings. I remember when Tom was about six months old he had the Martian Pox.   
Every time we put him down in his crib he would cry. Maggie and I had hold him and   
rock him to sleep to calm him down." Owen gave a little chuckle, "I remember one night   
I fell asleep holding him in my arms in the rocking chair. That morning I had an   
important meeting with Ambassador Sarek. I was just thankful that Vulcans are too polite   
to mention the fact that I was bent over throughout the entire meeting with pains in my   
back from sleeping in the rocker."  
  
  
B'Elanna laughed. "Maggie showed me Tom's baby pictures. He was a beautiful   
baby. I just hope Miral takes after him."  
  
  
"She looks like her mother and I see in Tom's eyes how much he loves both of   
you."   
  
  
B'Elanna smiled at her father-in-law. "Owen I would like to thank you for the   
recommendations you gave Tom and I to get us teaching positions at Starfleet   
Academy…The worst part of coming home was wondering where we would go…what   
we would do…I think Tom was a little afraid that he might be sent back to the New   
Zealand Penal Colony to finish his sentence."  
  
  
Owen smiled at his daughter-in-law, "After the glowing reports Tom got from   
Captain Janeway, Commander Chakotay and Commander Tuvok, the Penal colony   
commuted Tom's sentence to time served…You my dear was an easy sell…after the   
Academy heard about how you kept Voyager flying for seven years without the proper   
parts and no stopovers for at a space station for regular maintenance they were clamoring   
to get you."  
  
  
Perplexed B'Elanna said, "But I never completed the Academy…I quit during the   
second year."  
  
  
"After Tom wrote home about you and him getting married I did a little bit of   
research to find out about my new daughter-in-law. I found are quite a few Engineering   
instructors who remember a young woman who had a the capacity to figure out the more   
complex engineering but had a really bad temper."  
  
  
B'Elanna frowned and said, "I like to think I have better control over my temper   
now."  
  
  
"I know you have. Kathryn said she would of never gotten Voyager home without   
you." Smirking he said, "Besides you married a Paris man …It takes a strong woman to   
marry a Paris man…that what Maggie and my Mother always says."   
  
  
Laughing B'Elanna said, "They are right. You know Owen your nothing like I   
expected. I remember at the Academy I heard horror stories from classmates who took   
your classes."  
  
  
Owen smirked at her. B'Elanna smiled at his expression. It was the same   
expression she had seen on Tom face many times. "I started most of those rumors   
myself." With a more serious expression he added, "I admit I'm tough on my students   
but I'm tough on them because I know what they are going to face out there. Most of the   
cadets who enter Starfleet are in it for the excitement…They never think of the danger.   
The worst part of making it to Captain was telling a member of my crew's family that   
their loved one is not coming home."  
  
  
B'Elanna looked at her father in law's face and saw a tear in his eye. She gave   
him a faint smile. "I know what you mean…Whenever we lost someone on Voyager it   
really hurt. ..I know Captain Janeway took every death pretty hard."  
  
  
Owen smiled at the mention of his former science officer. "I know. Every death   
hurts. But I always knew Kathryn had what it takes to be a good Captain…I was the one   
who convinced her to go into command."  
  
  
"I know. She talked about you a lot."  
  
  
"What about Tom…Did he ever talk about me?"  
  
  
Nervously B'Elanna said, "Owen I…"  
  
  
Frowning Owen said, "Wait…I'm not sure I want to know…For the first time in   
years we have been able to have conversations without one of us yelling…I can't blame   
Tom for hating me…I said such hateful things to him after he got kicked out of   
Starfleet."  
  
  
B'Elanna looked at Owen Paris and for the first time she didn't see a strong   
Starfleet Admiral, she saw a worried father. For many years she resented her father for   
abandoning her and her mother but after meeting with him twice since Voyager has   
returned to Earth she felt see had made peace with him. She wanted him to part of her   
and Miral's life and she and Tom were planning on taking Miral to see her Grandpa John   
this weekend. She was glad that Tom and his father were actually talking to each other   
and she hoped their estrangement was over. "Tom never stopped loving you."  
  
  
Owen smiled at her. "B'Elanna you don't have to lie to me."  
  
  
"I'm not. Tom wanted you to be proud of him. He knows he let you down after   
Caldik Prime…He took a lot of risks on Voyager. It amazing that he made it out of the   
Delta Quadrant alive." Smiling B'Elanna said, "The E.M.H often said that Tom spent   
more time in sickbay as his patient then as his assistant. The Doctor always said that if   
Tom didn't have such a hard head he wouldn't have survived all his risk taking."  
  
  
Owen frowned, "Tom was always a risk taker. Maggie and I were so worried that   
Tommy would kill himself doing one of his crazy stunts…When Tom was twelve he   
crashed a shuttle because he was flying too fast during an obstacle course. Luckily he   
wasn't badly hurt but he could have been." Frowning Owen said, "Tom asked me to   
come to that race but I had a meeting with Ambassador Sarek that weekend. When   
Maggie called me and told me about the accident I was so mad at Tom for being so   
reckless. When I returned home instead of hugging Tom and being grateful that he only   
broke his ankle I yelled at him… I told him that he was irresponsible and I took away his   
flying privileges for two months and I restricted him to the house for two months."  
  
  
B'Elanna gave a slight smile to her father-in-law and said, "Tom never really like   
to talk about his past. I remember early in our trip we were captured by these aliens called   
the Vidiaans who were suffering from this disease called the phage. They thought my   
Klingon DNA would help them find a cure. They threw Tom and this other crewman into   
a slave labor camp and they sent me to this lab where they separated my Klingon and   
human DNA. They made me into two people….one completely human and the other   
completely Klingon. They threw the human B'Elanna into the labor camp and kept the   
Klingon B'Elanna in the lab. I was very weak and very scared but Tom was there for   
me….I told him about how my father abandoned me and my mother when I was a little   
girl and I always felt he left me because I was too Klingon. I told Tom how I use to hide   
my forehead ridges with a scarf and to cheer me up Tom told me that you use to make   
him get a crew cut every summer and that he always hid his hair with a baseball cap."  
  
  
Owen gave a slight smile. "I remember…. I had to order him to take the cap off   
during meals because otherwise he wouldn't uncover his head….I thought that if I gave   
him some of the same discipline I gave the Starfleet cadets Tom would be less   
reckless…but if backfired….Tom became more reckless. When Tom was fourteen   
Maggie and I were called into school by the school counselor. Tom was falling asleep in   
class and his grades were falling. The counselor told me that the behavior Tom was   
showing was very common for children of high- ranking Starfleet officers. She said that   
Tom felt that he was under too much pressure and that it was affecting his sleeping   
patterns."  
  
  
"What did you tell the counselor?"  
  
  
Frowning Owen said, "I was too stubborn to listen. I told her that I knew what   
was best for my boy and that she should mind her own damn business. I immediately had   
Tom transferred to another school. Maggie was furious. She said I cared more about   
Tom's future career then I cared about him. We argued about it all the way home in the   
hover car. By the time we got home I made a deal with Maggie that if Tom's behavior   
and grades didn't improve that I would take him to counseling myself. When we came   
home I told Tom that tomorrow he would be starting a new school and then went into my   
office to cool off…Maggie and I never fought in front of the children. In his new school   
both his behavior and grades improved but I think he liked his new school because his   
best friend Charlie Day went there also."  
  
  
B'Elanna frowned, "He was one of the people who died at Caldik Prime."  
  
  
"Yes…Charlie…Odile and Bruno. They were all very close. Tom and Charlie   
practically grew up together. Tom's sisters thought he was going to propose to Odile after   
graduation but."  
  
  
"I know…none of them lived to see graduation."  
  
  
Owen started pacing. "I keep looking back to the days after the accident and I   
blame myself. I should of seen how much Tom was hurting but all I cared about was how   
the accident was going to look on Tom's permanent record. I told Tom that losing people   
you care about is part of the job when you are in Starfleet…I keep thinking if I just   
listened to him and not lectured him all the time he wouldn't of lied."  
  
  
"Owen…Tom didn't lie to hurt you…he was scared and he made a stupid   
mistake. But he has learned from his past mistake… he told me that being trapped in the   
Delta Quadrant was the best thing that ever happened to him. It gave him a chance to   
become the type of person you could love and respect."  
  
  
"B'Elanna I always loved Tom…It's funny when Tom was little I use to brag to   
everyone at Starfleet Command about all of Tom's accomplishments." Smirking he   
added. " Kathryn could tell you herself about how often I bragged to her about Tom…but   
I guess I never told my boy how proud I was of him. I spent so much time telling Tom   
what he did wrong, I never told him what he did right."  
  
  
Smiling B'Elanna said, "Tom told me about your conversation in Miral's room.   
I'm glad you and Tom have made your peace. I always thought we would raise Miral in   
the Delta Quadrant but I'm glad we made it home. I always felt so lonely as a child…I'm   
glad Miral will have grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins to love her."  
  
  
Owen took B'Elanna's hand and softly squeezed it. "B'Elanna I want you and   
Tom to know that you will always have a home here and a family to love you."  
  
  
"I know that."  
  
  
Just then the kitchen door opened and Tom walked in. Smiling he saw B'Elanna   
and his Dad holding hands and he said, "Hi, honey…I'm home."  
  
  
B'Elanna let go of her father in law's hand and stood up. Tom walked to her and   
gave her a soft kiss on the lips. B'Elanna smiled at him, "How was the simulators?"  
  
  
"Fine…I only have to do 10 more hours and I my pilot's license back." Tom   
turned to his father and smiled, "Hi Dad…I went to your office to invite you to lunch but   
your secretary told me you went home early…I hope you are feeling okay."  
  
  
Smiling at his son Owen said, "My afternoon meeting was canceled…I decided to   
catch up on my paperwork at home….but I was thinking if you want to take your   
beautiful wife to lunch I could watch Miral."  
  
  
B'Elanna smiled at him. "Owen…we don't want to impose."  
  
  
"Nonsense. Anytime I can spend with my beautiful granddaughter I will   
take…You two go out and have fun."  
  
  
Tom smiled at his father and said, 'Thanks Dad….Are you sure you can handle   
everything?"  
  
  
"Thomas Eugene…I use to change your diapers…I'm sure I can still remember.   
Now get out of here…I have a date with a very beautiful girl."  
  
  
Smirking Tom said, "Yes, sir."   
  
  
B'Elanna kissed her father-in-law on the cheek and said, "Thank you Owen…for   
everything."  
  
  
Owen hugged B'Elanna.. "Anytime…that is what families are for." 


End file.
